Daily Yellowstone journal., 1887-01-26
THE RATS OF NEW YORK.
Millions Of the Pests ut Work All over
the City-Property Endangered.

~ ~ 49,
the City-Property Endangered.
1t is safe TO say that there is not now a
building in the city not infested with
Norwegian rats. All the cats and human
rat catchcrs can at best but destroy am
insignificant proportion of them. AS a
matter of fact, the brown Norwegian rat
is so big and fierce that an ordinary cat
Is no match for him, and no cat possess
ing the usual instinct Of representation
will heard a cellarful of these rodents as
biz as himself. Most Of the uptown hotels
keep all The way from a dozen 10 100 cats
III their cellars, and even this number il
insufficient TO keep their active foes from
penetrating to the rooms, destroying fur
niture and making timid people think
that burglars are ''a-burgling."
The most serious aspect Of the rat ques-
ton, however, is, as above stated, that
New Works billion of Norwegian rats
are all the time burrowing beneath the
foundations Of buildings, eating into pill.
lars and supports and thus actually en-
~iangcring life and property. And the
more they are driven from the houses
themselves the greater the danger, for
the rats, driven by ~ferrets, weascls, poison
and cats from the living portions If a
house, take to the cellars, the sewers and
the great subterranean world Of mold and
filth. Here they are not molested and
here they burrow and mine until more
than one splendid ediiice is to-day liable
to topple and collapse.
A six story building uptown was a few
months ago condemned as unsafe be-
canse one side of the structure had dan
gerously settled. When the workmcn
who tore down the house reached the
cellar they found il literally paved with
rats, and il took an entire day TO drown
them out by the use of a hose and fire
hydrant. Then it was revealed that the
rats had so burrowed under the supports
in order to get at a provision warehouse
the other side Of the supporting wall
that the brick had given way and caused
the wall to fall.
IF the streets and sidewalks Of New
York could I've suddenly removed like a
cover To a box and the underground
world revealed said a well-known
builder, 1.-The sight would not only appal.
but alarm every house owner and
dweller in the city. II is a solid fact
that perhaps a billion Of rats are every
second of the day and night burrowing
and mining beneath and around the gus
pipes, the water mains, the sewer mains
and into the very foundations of the
buildings. The fact is becoming a
serious one, ! assure you, to builders, for
we already have to take into c~unsidera-
ton the ravaGcs of these pests. and what
the result will he ten years from now Is
fearful to contemplate.
IL feel safe in asserting that nearly all
the many recent cave-ins Of buildings are
due 10 the borrowings of rats. OF q "a
iron buildings are safer i'm this r~cSIsEt
than wooden ones, but even in iron
structures many wooden supports are
commonly used, and the rats cat away
at them until they are honeycomisd,
likely as not thereby endangering the
stability Of the structure and consequently
life."
''How long has this state OF things pre-
vailed To your knowledge" was asked.
''Only since the introduction and prop
agation Of that Norwegian rat. The old
American black rat. 10 the cellar horn.
was not destructive Of such solid proper
ties as wood and iron. that l know Of"
was the response.
why. | was in a South street provis-
lon warehouse the other day." he con-
tinued, land happened to mention the
subject to the proprietor. lie told me
that rats had in two days eaten into a
dozen boxes Of cheese and lard and bored
holes in WI or three cider barrels. letting
the cider all out into the cellar. The
next day he found about 100 rats dead
drunk on the floor from the effects Of the
cider. Il might seem incredible 10 you,
hut from my own previous knowledge of
the penetrating powers and the umnivcr-
nus appetite Of the Norwegian rat / could
readily believe the statement"
Professor Jennings said rnat one Of the
most dangerous features Of the Norwegian
~, aside from his propensity to under
mine buildings, was that his bite was al.
ways dangerous and usually fatal.
II have never yet been bitten by one
81 the N~orwegians," said he. 'and
take mighty good care not to bc. I have
heen bitten nv the old black rat thousands
of times. hut never with serious results.
and ] understand that the bite Of the Nor.
wegian rodent is almost as certain death
as that of a cobra. New York journal